20 Reasons Why Ron Paul Sucks!

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Every single one of the candidates currently running for the Republican nomination is a walking disaster. But one of them, Texas congressman Ron Paul, seems to be getting a disturbing amount of support from liberals. Mostly that’s because his nut-job libertarian views happen to not sound so nutty on a handful of issues.

He wants to end the War on Drugs. He is against the death penalty. He would not support a constitutional ban on gay marriage. He was opposed to the War in Iraq and wants to end all American military intervention abroad. All of that sounds pretty good to us left-wing types — downright refreshing coming from a Republican. Some progressives have claimed they’d rather vote for him than for Obama. Even Occupiers have sung his praises.But if you’re a liberal who supports Ron Paul, you either haven’t been paying enough attention or you’re out of your fucking mind.

Here are 20 reasons why:

1. He wants to repeal the Civil Rights Act. That’s the 1964 law that made segregation illegal and outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex or national origin. Paul claims it infringes on people’s freedom. If a restaurant or hotel wants to ban African-Americans, he believes they should be allowed to. As he put it in a speech to Congress: “the forced integration dictated by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 increased racial tensions while diminishing individual liberty.”

2. He’s also against the Americans With Disabilities Act. That’s the 1990 bill passed by the first President Bush, which followed up the Civil Rights Act by making it illegal to discriminate against someone because of a disability. Paul wants it gone, too.

3. He is against public health care. You know how you think Americans are crazy because they can’t do any better on universal health care than the watered down bill Obama got through? Well, President Ron Paul would do much, much worse. He thinks that in an entirely private system, poor people would have all of their needs taken care of by charitable doctors who would be willing to work for free. Ron Paul, by the way, isa medical doctor.

4. He wants to dissolve the public education system. He promises to eliminate the Department of Education entirely and leave the question of whether to offer any public education at all up to local governments. He calls public education “socialist” (which we actually agree with, but he, unlike us, doesn’t think that’s a good thing) and says, “I preach home schooling and private schooling.” According to an interview, “The Department of Education has given us No Child Left Behind, massive unfunded mandates, indoctrination, and in some cases, forced medication of our children with psychotropic drugs. We should get rid of all of that…”

5. He thinks global warming is a hoax. In his words, it’s “the greatest hoax, I think, that’s been around in many, many years — if not hundreds of years”. But that’s just the tip of the crazyberg. Ron Paul winning the presidency would be a disaster for the environment. He wants to completely disband the Environmental Protection Agency, abolish environmental regulation, and lift, it seems, just about all the restrictions on drilling for oil. Including in National Parks.

6. He doesn’t believe in evolution. When asked about it in 2007, he was pretty clear: “I think it’s a theory. The theory of evolution. And I don’t accept it as a theory.”

7. He’s against federal safety standards. So that means no federal testing to make sure the products you’re sold won’t kill you. Or that, say, the airplane you’re on won’t fall out of the sky. In fact, he’s in favour of completely disbanding the Federal Aviation Authority, which does stuff like hire air traffic controllers to make sure planes don’t collide in the air. He has argued against the Food and Drug Administration, which makes sure pharmaceuticals are safe to take. (“People weren’t dying from bad drugs before we had the FDA,” he has said, “I mean, it just didn’t happen.”) And forget Ralph Nader’s successful crusade to enforce the wearing of seat belts. Ron Paul is ideologically opposed to the federal government making sure cars even have seat belts. “I mean, do we need the federal government to tell us whether we buy a safe car?”

8. He is radically pro-life. And vehemently opposed to a woman’s right to choose. Hesigned the “personhood pledge” making the rounds on the current campaign, suggestingthat abortion should be legally considered to be the same thing as murder.

9. He wants to do away with all foreign aid. Paul’s isolationism sounds good to liberals when he’s talking about his refusal to invade other nations. But the United States government, under President Paul, would send no funds to the developing world to help combat AIDS or famines or natural disasters or anything else.

10. He would pull out of the United Nations. He openly claims the United Nations is part of a plot to create one world government. “If we continue down the UN path, America as we know it will cease to exist.” And not only does he want to withdraw the U.S. from membership, he wants to evict the United Nations from their headquarters in New York.

11. He’s against the minimum wage. Instead of making sure that people are paid at least a minimum amount for their work, he believes companies should be allowed to pay whatever ever they like, with the law of supply and demand determining just how little. Lower wages, he argues, would actually help poor people by creating more jobs.

12. He is a gun nut. Our eyebrows are already raised by anyone who claims that having firearms is a “God-given right”, like Ron Paul does. But he doesn’t stop there. He wants to repeal the legislation that requires a background check when you buy a new gun — you know, to make sure you’re not, say, a fugitive from justice, a violent offender, or currently stalking someone. Back when there actually was a ban an assault weapons, he was, of course, against the ban. And now that there isn’t, he wants to make sure Obama doesn’t get the chance to bring a new one in.

13. He believes we’re waging a war against Christmas. In his words, he claims that “the elitist, secular Left” are waging an “ongoing war against religion” to “transform America into a completely secular nation, a nation that is legally and culturally biased against Christianity.” And as if that wasn’t crazy enough, he adds, “Christmas itself may soon be a casualty of that war.”

14. He wants to get rid of income tax. He is against taxation in general, of course, which most liberals would disagree pretty strongly with. Especially when it comes to the income tax. It’s generally recognized as the most direct way to make sure that poor folk don’t have to give up more of their earnings than rich folk do. But Paul wants to get rid of it entirely.

15. He voted to build a fence along the border with Mexico. In fact, he’s pretty radical when it comes to the whole question of undocumented immigration. He has backed off on the fence issue (because, he says, it might be used to keep Americans in) but he has also argued that Emergency Room doctors shouldn’t have to treat immigrants without documentation. And that he wants to end birthright citizenship, which says you’re an American citizen if you were born in America, whether or not your parents were citizens themselves.

16. He’s against the Occupational Health and Safety Act. That’s the law that gives Americans the right to a safe workplace, and makes sure an employer doesn’t force employees to work in a dangerous or unhealthy environment. That, Paul figures, is unconstitutional. It limits the employer’s freedom to put workers in harm’s way.

17. He wants to U.S. to seize control of the Panama Canal. Paul’s isolationism doesn’t seem to apply to the Panama Canal. The United States signed a treaty back in the 1970s gradually ceding control of the canal to the government of Panama. But Paul wants tooverturn that. Because if the U.S doesn’t seize control of it, he claims some hostile regime might seize control of it instead.

18. He thinks interstate highways are unconstitutional. You’re probably getting the impression by now that Ron Paul thinks that pretty much everything the federal government does is unconstitutional. That’s because Ron Paul thinks that pretty much everything the federal government does is unconstitutional. He has even argued againstinterstate highways, saying Eisenhower knew he was bending the law when he built them. Paul figures they’re a violation of states’ rights.

19. He seems pretty homophobic to us. Paul actually gets a lot of credit for being the one Republican candidate who isn’t homophobic, mostly because he says that the federal government has no business telling people what to do in their private lives and he’s come out against a constitutional ban against same-sex marriage. But it’s really not that clear where he stands. His reason for being against the ban is that he believes marriage laws should be left up to individual states or to the church. When some states began to pass laws legalizing same-sex marriage, he fought to make sure other states wouldn’t have to recognize those marriages as legal. He’s also for don’t-ask-don’t-tell and has voted to de-fund any organization which “presents male or female homosexuality as an acceptable alternative life style or which suggest that it can be an acceptable life style”. As for his own personal attitude toward the gay community? Well, an ex-staffer who defended Paul against charges of homophobia did so by claiming he only knew of two times Paul did something homophobic: the time he swatted away a gay man’s hand rather than have to shake it, and the time he refused to go to the washroom at the same time as a gay guy.

20. And he seems pretty racist too. Paul has been haunted by accusations of racism pretty much the whole campaign long. And with good reason. He used to publish newsletters, under his own name, which said unbelievably racist things. Things like, “I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal.” And, “If you have ever been robbed by a black teenaged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed they can be.” For years, he refused opportunities to distance himself from those comments and those newsletters. Now, finally, he has, saying that they were written by other people, without his knowledge, and that he doesn’t share those views. But that’s not the only thing that makes us worried. More recently, he complained about the Transportation Security Administration hiring visible minorities to do airport screenings. Again, in his own words: “We quadrupled the TSA, you know, and hired more people who look more suspicious to me than most Americans who are getting checked… Most of them are, well, you know, they just don’t look very American to me.”

So, yeah, as liberals, we wouldn’t exactly have high hopes for the Paul Administration.

36 Responses to 20 Reasons Why Ron Paul Sucks!

Bookmarking, so every time a Paul troll comments with something like “Paul in 2012″ I can link to it. And these people are everywhere. Excellent list.

Bob

February 19, 2012 at 9:01 pm

Ron Paul 2012!

Anonymous

February 19, 2012 at 9:36 pm

Ron Paul 2012! This article is the most ridiculous article I have ever read.

Anonymous

July 10, 2012 at 6:57 pm

You’re the most ridiculous article you ever heard

Youalldeservewhatscoming

February 23, 2012 at 1:37 pm

Do us a favor and stick your head back up your ass til after the election.

Susan B

February 19, 2012 at 10:57 am

I’m with Leslie Parsley. Those Ron Paul trolls are everywhere and they’re fanatic. I don’t see how any right thinking person could possibly think of voting for this man. Fortunately, I do believe more than half the country is capable of rational thoughts. Bookmarked.

Good list. Sharing this everywhere. Watch out for the Paul Bots. They’ll be coming in droves if this picks up heavy traffic.

Eric Sasani

February 19, 2012 at 9:00 pm

You can make an even longer, deluded list with Obama and other Republican candidates. LOL

Anonymous

February 19, 2012 at 9:42 pm

WOW. It’s hard for me to believe that anybody could actually think poorly of Ron Paul. He is the only candidate, including Obama, that is running for the people. If you want a president to better the nation, you’d vote Ron Paul.

Anonymous

March 29, 2012 at 11:16 pm

Did you not read the list? Ron Paul is a nut!

bg

February 19, 2012 at 9:49 pm

Thank you for the reminder of why we need someone like Ron Paul. I agree with pretty much all of that. Well, except for your analysis of him being racist. He is actually the opposite of racist in my opinion. He opposes the war on drugs, which in itself has single handedly killed and incarcerated more minorities than pretty much anything else. Also, he opposes abortion which since 1973 has reduced the african american population by 25%. I guess I could always replace that part with something else and retitle it “20 more reasons I would vote for Ron Paul”. I also noticed that these were mostly federal regulations that are used to limit the people rather than limit the government, therefore he would have voted against them on the simple argument that it was intended to be handled by the states. But you can read into it more if you would like, I understand your need to discredit such a man of integrity and are finding it hard to do so.

bg-You might want to reconsider your “integrity” comment before tomorrow. Come on back and read my new article on A3P, Anonymous and Ron Paul-it’s a doozy.

JaiGuru

July 10, 2012 at 3:58 pm

Well, when you post a comment like that using publicly funded lines that run interstate distances, largely maintained and funded by federal tax dollars, THEN maybe your comment wont make you sound like a sophomore who just discovered this whole “politics thing”.

Surely

February 21, 2012 at 1:26 pm

Great list.. thanks
For anyone still in denial… don’t forget, RP gave us many direct quotes… SHOWING his racist/flawed thinking. Ron Paul’s integrity? Surely You Jest bg. And Anon? Do you READ? THINK? To buy into this man because you like one or two of his “beliefs” is dangerous.

Youalldeservewhatscoming

February 23, 2012 at 1:35 pm

Its funny I see this pathetic list of B.S. and think where are the lists from the other candidates? $50 says they have lists twice as long with twice as many facts that will destroy this country. Never see the comparison list and you want to know why? because its so f$#king long nobody wants to write or type it. Maybe you should check your facts before you post shit online. Maybe instead of waiting for your turn to talk or type something negative you should actually listen to him and think about what he is saying instead of waiting to pounce. Ron Paul 100% genuine 100% american I would back him til I die!

Adrian Rico

July 10, 2012 at 7:17 pm

It (lists for other candidates) aren’t what we are talking about! That’s why nobody made them. Not for Romney, not for that piece of s-word Obama, not for anybody else. We are talking about Ron Paul, an absolutely atrocious politician who isn’t even a real republican (fyi Paul, stop making a mockery out of my party’s debates. I don’t care if you have opinions, don’t try and waste our time.)

If you want to argue about other candidates and their fictitious lists (hopefully without cussing,) go make lists for them on RonPaul-R-us .com or wherever the heck you congregate. But to call a list (even a liberal tainted list, albeit) BS with the flimsy excuse of “others are also bad” is downright childish. Note that other candidates do not have lists about them on this site…

AnonymousNot

February 23, 2012 at 9:40 pm

You have got to be kidding me. It’s a Ron Paul swarm. I’ve heard of these things but this is the first time I’ve seen so many crazies in one place at one time. Ron Paul? You have got to be kidding me? Any of the other idiots? You have got to be kidding me. I do agree with Paul on one issue: End this stupid war on drugs. That’s it.

Anonymous

February 25, 2012 at 4:33 pm

ron paul sucks as much as disco sucks

Independent

February 26, 2012 at 2:26 pm

No, the reason why the corporatist/fascist/socialist on the left and right establishments hate Ron Paul is simply because he is a strict constitutionalist through and through–something which neither the Dems or Republicans truly are. Ron Paul is no less and no more “libertarian” than the founding fathers. Ironically, the fact that every one of his policy views is fully guided by and shaped by the Constitution is the ultimate reason why he is considered a “kook” by many in both parties, who are less than fully constitutional as they would like to think and have others believe. If one party is violating one Amendment of the Bill of Rights in a certain policy (e.g., First Amendment in the recent HHS mandates by to private religious institutions requiring them to provide not just birth control, but also forms which are abortion-inducing), the other party is violating another amendment of the Bill of Rights in another policy (the 4th Amendment in the Patriot Act/NDAA). Hence, some of Ron Paul’s policies are loved by one party and not the other, and other policies are hated by one party and not the other. The reason more and more people are coming to embrace Ron Paul is not so much Ron Paul himself as it is that they’ve come out of the cave, realizing they’ve been in the dark regarding the Constitution (no thanks to our “public” education system, i.e., run by the Federal Government in cahoots with public teachers unions, a racket which is all contrary to the 10th Amendment which does not grant the Federal Government such a power/right.) Now with Constitutional enlightenment, they see more and more how both parties have gradually fallen away from that Constitution and it’s limitations on Federal Government for the protection of individual liberty…they see how what should be the Supreme rule of the land for all policy-making is being disregarded more and more, and by both parties (albeit in different ways.) Thankfully, people from both parties are waking up to the fact that their individual liberties are at stake, albeit in different ways from both parties. Ron Paul isn’t the threat. The awakening to the Constitution and what it grants and doesn’t grant is the threat to the establishment in both left and right forms. Granted, such awakening may be too little too late, but at least we can’t say there wasn’t at least one constitutional ‘prophet’ in D.C. who had warned us before becoming we’ve given up all our freedoms in exchange for the false gold of supposed “security” from the hand of Big Brother Government. We are Rome and Germany around 1933 all over again. But given our purposefully crafted public education system which doesn’t educate us as to our Constitution and history, we’re too uneducated in such things to ever realize it.

Petter

February 29, 2012 at 12:51 pm

I think the Ron Paul supporters show their true self when they are confronted like this. You can see the pathetic attempt of telling someone that they are ignorant or simply stupid for disagreeing with his politics.

Listen, fanatics. He has some good points.
He has some horrible ones.

I’m not American, but I’m studying in the US, and the more I see the GOP debates, the less I like the American politics.

Even though many of his ideas may be good, there are too many bad ones. I’m born and raised in Norway, a socialist nation with free health care, gun restriction, etc.

Norway is the best country to live in, in the world.

The American fear of having a government that taxes and actually does take somewhat control in the lives of you is pathetic.

There is a reason that when you go to Europe, you should tell people that you are Canadian rather than American. The rest of the world look at you and your values and laugh at you. Hopefully you will understand why eventually so that you can stop being so xenophobic towards other ideologies and beliefs than your own.

Ronnie

February 29, 2012 at 11:24 pm

Petter, sadly a lot of what you say is true. America has changed in the last 11 years with the swing occurring about the time George Bush got elected and God starting living in the WH. Our country is filled with religious fanatics who would rather see us as a theocracy as opposed to a democracy. Then there’s the other side of the coin, and you’re seeing them here. Paul’s biggest support comes from 24-34 demographic. For the most part they are uneducated, and disaffected democrats and republicans. They have no real sense of the world and tend to back a losing hand as they are doing with Paul.

I have traveled the world but have never had the pleasure of living or visiting your beautiful country, something I want do do before I die.

I fought for this nation, when it was better, so I will stick with her when she is sick, as she is now, but to say I don’t envy you and the more progressive nations of the world would not be the truth.

libby

April 15, 2012 at 11:59 pm

oh yeah.. you mean those uneducated UNIVERSITY rallies.

Also proud vet.

Q. Are you educated?

JaiGuru

July 10, 2012 at 4:07 pm

The VAST majority of degrees pursued by the current crop of 20+ year olds in the US are LIBERAL ARTS, including DANCE and THEATER, psychology, and the like. Just because you went to college does not mean you are educated or that you are educated about something that is actually relevant and worthwhile.

And give me a break, already! What college twit doesn’t get to campus and magically turn into a guitar playing “activist” who’s like, so political and stuff! Right. Some idiot fresh out of the fantasy land of highschool gets to another campus fantasy land and thinks they have ANYTHING to contribute to society, having never actually experienced it yet had a rally! ooooh, let’s be impressed with that!

Anonymous

March 3, 2012 at 4:21 pm

Who needs an ass this guy is already too full of shit

Rockcock64

March 3, 2012 at 8:04 pm

You should change the title to: 20 Reasons Why Ron Paul Rocks

Dumb ass liberals lol

JaiGuru

July 10, 2012 at 4:12 pm

>claims someone is a dumbass, uses “lol”…

JJ

April 15, 2012 at 4:02 pm

He wants the stupid war in Iraq and stop the undeclare wars. He has no ideas for health care for now. im not ron paul bots u shit IF you think that ron paul would carry us to the toilets then. Hes trying to to cut down to 1 trillion dollars for 4 years and i think he can but itll would take alot of work and he can do that

libby

April 15, 2012 at 11:54 pm

you clearly hate this country.. I have an idea, move to Canada and spread that socialist babel.

Tyler

April 19, 2012 at 4:40 pm

I dont see how these are bad things??

Tyler

April 19, 2012 at 4:55 pm

I can overlook things like not believing in evolution or being religious to accomplish freedom from the government you so cutely want to cuddle up with.

AreYouKidding?

April 24, 2012 at 9:50 am

Funny that all those that are so incensed by this list and think that Ron Paul is the savior of America seem to say nothing about the information here except many versions of, “Nuh-uh!” Or, failing that, “I bet the other candidates are even worse.” If you really want to debate the guy that wrote the list, how ’bout some real research and clash instead of baseless, childlike denial? Just a thought.

Adrian Rico

July 10, 2012 at 7:04 pm

I can assure you Mr. Guest Commentator that, speaking on behalf of all real right wing republicans, us conservatives hate Ron Paul just as much as you liberals[scum of the earth, etc. etc.] so there

Jeremy Shatka

July 25, 2012 at 9:21 pm

The GOP’s are mad that a true conservative got so much attention this election cycle. Wake up to Libertarianism, America.

Frank Weir

September 4, 2012 at 10:46 pm

I think RP is right about number 13, but Ron Paul does seem a few eggs short of a dozen. Thanks for the list, I can use this to have annoy some local Ron-bots. It amazes me to see the number of idiots defend this nut-job. He lost my support when he flip-flopped on too many issues, and not to mention his racist newsletter! Thanks again, for this list.